Number 205 on IMDb's Top 250
Setsuko and Seita are brother and sister living in wartime Japan. After their mother is killed in an air raid they find a temporary home with relatives. Having quarreled with their aunt they leave the city and make their home in an abandoned shelter. While their father's destiny who was a soldier is unknown the two must depend on each other to somehow keep a roof over their heads and food in their stomachs. When everything is in short supply, they gradually succumb to hunger and their only entertainment is the light of the fireflies. Hilarity ensues most of the time.
Trivia: The film is based on a true story. Akiyuki Nosaka lost his little sister during the war to malnutrition and blamed himself for her death. He wrote Hotaru no haka (A Grave of Fireflies) in 1967 to come to terms with it. The fruit drops that Setsuko eats were made by the Sakuma Confectionery Company, which in real life was established in 1949 (four years after the events in this movie took place). A few years ago, Sakuma released limited edition tin cans that resembled the one seen in the movie. Some variations of these tins also had a picture of Setsuko looking through her tin for the last drop. From the start of production, director Isao Takahata wanted to cast appropriately aged children in the roles of Seita and Setsuko. Because the film takes place in Kobe, the search was limited to the Kansai region of Japan in order to find children that spoke the proper dialect. He was introduced to Ayano Shiraishi through a regional children's acting company, and decided to cast her as Setsuko after only hearing two sentences: "My name is Ayano Shriraishi. I am five years old." He was later told by one of the company's leaders that they expected Ayano was too young for the role, and so those were the only lines she had been instructed to recite in the audition.
This is a really unique film. First there is the subject matter, trying to survive in rural Japan during the last year of the war, seeing the war from a Japanese prospective. Second, unlike most Japanese anime films, it doesn't deal with the supernatural, or magical world. It is a straight forward tale that is beautifully drawn. The fireflies can maybe thought of as a mass benevolent spirit, but they were never seen as anything but fireflies. It is a bittersweet tale.
Next up: The Exterminating Angel, What the heck was that movie about? After a lavish dinner party, the guests find themselves mysteriously unable to leave the room and...
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